Vehicle stability controls have progressed from first generation systems based upon braking and traction control (braking and powertrain torque management) technologies to more recent systems including independent and coordinated controls of brake, powertrain, steering and suspension damping sub-systems. Typically, distributed control modules are employed to directly interface with respective actuators to effect the desired sub-system controls. Coordination and authority of such sub-system control may be handled by way of a supervisory control.
Apart from the complexity and sophistication of vehicle stability controls, there is a high degree of integration and overlap of the affected vehicle sub-systems, most notably in the commonality of vehicle level parameters utilized across various sub-system controls for effecting the desired vehicle stability enhancements. Parametric commonality at the vehicle level suggests efficiency and other opportunities in processor utilization, communication bandwidth consumption, multi-platform application and flexibility of software. This may be even more acute in vehicle stability control systems which effect stability enhancement through a variety of distributed control modules associated with respective sub-system control (e.g. steering, braking, powertrain torque, suspension damping) wherein coordination and authority are handled through a central supervisory control.
Systematic reuse of software components promotes low-cost, quick-to-market and widely available vehicle systems. Significant benefits result directly from the application development cost, time, validation, maintainability and flexibility advantages afforded by such common software assets.
Therefore, it is desirable that a vehicle dynamics system be characterized by a high degree of software component availability and access to enable and promote reuse, maintainability, common validation and development, cost and time savings, and multi-platform utilization.